The fourth episode of the eighth season of the talent show on ITV drew an average audience of 9.6 million.

LONDON -- ‎Simon Cowell's Britain's Got Talent on ITV continued to dominate the Saturday night ratings in the U.K.

‎The fourth episode of season eight this weekend drew an average audience of 9.6 million for a 46 percent share of the British homes watching TV at the time. The show peaked with 11.2 million viewers for a 51 percent share.

The show had put on its highest-rated season opener a few weeks ago, which reached 11.1 million viewers on average, the biggest TV audience in Britain for 2014 to date. The second episode dipped to 9.3 million viewers, followed by 10.1 million the following week.

Meanwhile, BBC flagship network BBC One on Saturday reached an average audience of 4.7 million with hospital drama Casualty and 3.3 million with celebrity quiz show The Guess List.

ITV last year secured Cowell's BGT and The X Factor for three more seasons. BGT's judges are Cowell, Amanda Holden, Alesha Dixon and David Walliams.